Defeat natural disasters with farming

This year’s New Year’s Eve doesn’t have much of a New Year’s flavor, just a slightly hearty New Year’s Eve dinner, and few people are willing to go out to visit relatives after the New Year’s Eve, because the outside world is so cold that they can’t even go out, and they will feel full when they go out. face of snow.

It wasn't until May that the snow on the road began to melt slowly, and the temperature gradually rose. Ye Yu obviously couldn't wear the mink fur vest anymore, and replaced it with a quilted Lan shirt.

At this time, the Ye family was busy plowing the land again, but when raising seedlings, the old man Ye frowned slightly and said worriedly: "It's already May and the land temperature is still so low, I don't know if it will affect the growth of seeds."

Mrs. Ye straightened up, "Why think so much now, and worry about things later."

That's right, old man Ye stopped talking and continued farming with his sons.

In the end, most of the fields of their family planted corn and potatoes this year, and only a small part of them planted wheat and sorghum.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that since May, the temperature outside has risen at a speed visible to the naked eye. According to Ye Yu's physical experience, the temperature has soared to more than 30 degrees in just a few days. The Ye family has never Having experienced such a high temperature, even in the hottest summer on their side in the past, it was only more than 30 degrees. In May, it was usually only ten or twenty degrees. This time it directly increased by more than ten degrees, and everyone was very uncomfortable.

But for the farmers, the high temperature is still secondary. The most terrible thing is that since the seeds were planted in the ground, there has not been a drop of rain in the sky, and the sun is scorching every day. In order to grow food, the villagers had to go to Liuhe Carry water for irrigation.

Almost everyone is thankful that the Liu River is wide and deep, and in this case, nothing has changed.

However, those who have experienced the drought are frowning, especially the old man Ye, who now has to go for a walk around the family's field every morning, looking at the newly sprouted seeds that have been wilted by the hot sun and worry.

"It's good that we have the Liu River here. A little further south, Henan County is always prone to drought. If it doesn't rain all the time, it is estimated that there will be another batch of fleeing disasters."

The older villagers in the village are similar to the old man Ye's worries. Every day, they hope that God will open his eyes and hurry up to rain to irrigate the land.

However, God did not hear their expectations. As the days passed, the temperature became higher and higher in July, but as before, there was no rain.

When Ye Yu came out of Ye Tongsheng's house, he was dazzled by the dazzling sun in the sky. On his head was a straw hat made of straw, and the brim of the hat cast a shadow on his face.

Ye Jing next to him wiped his sweat with his hands, "It's too hot, it was cold during Chinese New Year, and it's hot recently, can't these two be neutralized?"

"Stop talking, go home quickly, it's easy to suffer from heatstroke if you stay outside in such a hot day." Ye Yu waved his hands feebly and said, "Our house still has a well, the water in the well is cool and refreshing, it's better than others. "

After saying this, the two of them quickened their pace and walked home, and the quarter of an hour's journey was abruptly cut in half by the two of them.

When they got home, all the Ye family members stayed in the main room, the doors and windows were wide open, and there were three wooden basins on the ground with well water in them. Mrs. Ye would occasionally pour the freshly shaken well water on the ground. The temperature is still not low, and everyone's faces are covered with sweat.

Seeing the two of them coming back, Mother Ye quickly took the book bag, pointed to the tub and said, "Go and wash your face."

The well water resting on the ground absorbs the heat and becomes warm, just enough to wash your face and wipe your hands, and it will not be too cold to cause illness.

Ye Yu wanted to take a cold bath, but he knew his mother would definitely not agree, so he had no choice but to give up and wipe his face with a towel that had been rinsed in the well water.

If you have to say what benefits such a big sun brings, it is that it is very bright during the day, and you don't need to light up the lamps in the evening. Ye Yu just took advantage of this time to practice calligraphy.

Sitting next to him, Ye Mu fanned him with a cattail fan and said, "I see that your handwriting is getting better and better."

Ye Yu stopped writing when she heard this, and looked at the words on the paper that could only be called horizontal and vertical. She was a little ashamed, maybe this was the filter that belonged to her mother.

By the time he finished writing the two large characters, the clothes on his back were already soaked with sweat, and his mouth was still dry. In this weather, drinking three pots of water a day was not enough. Ye Yu felt like he was drinking like a bucket Yes, the stomach is full of water in a sway.

He drank a bowl of cool white tea in one go, and then took a slow breath.

The cold noodles they ate at night, served with cucumbers, were especially appetizing, and because unfinished food would easily spoil on such a day, Granny Ye didn't dare to make too much, just enough for them to eat in one meal.

After the sun went down, the temperature outside dropped a little. At this time, the villagers used to gather under the big tree at the entrance of the village to chat for a while. The topics were miscellaneous, and most of them were family members.

Occasionally, Ye Yu would move a small stool with his grandma to listen to gossip to pass the time. Today, the grandfather and grandson went, and when they went, they heard a news that surprised them both.

It was Mrs. Wang who spoke, "My relatives in the county said that there was a severe drought in Henan County, and it hadn't rained for three months. They said that many people could not survive, and we were fleeing famine in the south. , the county has already encountered a wave."

"Fortunately, County Magistrate Zheng and Shen Dashan worked together to donate porridge and rice twice a day, so they survived."

Has the situation reached this point? Ye Yu frowned and thought carefully. The faint premonition in his heart gradually came true. Could it be that the end of the world is coming?

At this moment, Mrs. Ye sighed, "We don't know what the harvest will be like in this year's field. It doesn't look very good from the looks of it."

Hearing this, Mrs. Wang, who was still condescending and sympathetic to the victims, bent down again, and said with a little melancholy: "My seedlings are badly sunburned, and many of them haven't germinated."

Others also agreed one after another, and they all felt sympathetic. They had replanted several times, but even so, many of them died in the field.

But it's better than no harvest, and they didn't sell large quantities of grain last year, and the grain stored in the cellar was enough for them to eat for a year or two, so the villagers in Yejia Village were not very worried. In their opinion, the weather Could it last forever?

However, after Ye Yu returned home, he couldn't sit still. He always had a bad premonition in his heart and panicked.

Just as he was circling around the house again, Mrs. Ye stopped him.

"Brother Bao, don't turn around. What's wrong with you? If you feel uncomfortable, tell grandma."

Ye Yu stopped and said with determination: "Grandma, let's stock up on some more grain from the grain merchants. I'm afraid this weather will last for a long time, and the grain harvest this year may not be very good."

Mrs. Ye was stunned when she heard the words, and then murmured after a long while: "Why did you get to this level?"

But old man Ye didn't ask the reason. He slapped the cattail fan on the table, and immediately told his two sons, "You two go to the county town tomorrow to find the third child, and let him watch to buy more food. It doesn't matter what kind, as long as you can eat it. At last The important thing is to touch it secretly, transport it back secretly, and never let others find it."

"Anyway, the stored food can last for several years. Even if the weather returns to normal next year, the food will not be out of season, and it will be eaten one day." It's just that the taste of old food is not as good as new food.

Ye Boss and Ye Lao Er responded in unison.

Ye Yu hesitated for a while, and then asked, "Should we tell the village?" But it was just his hunch, without any evidence, and he probably wouldn't believe it if he told the village.

"Don't be in a hurry. After our family buys food first, I will tell the village chief about it because of the increase in the tax rate imposed by the court in two days. I think they should understand."

As soon as Old Man Ye finished speaking, he patted Ye Yu on the shoulder, "Don't think too much, even if the sky falls, we will support you, go to sleep."

Ye Yu was led back to the house by Ye Mu, and fell into a deep sleep after taking a bath.

Mother Ye tucked in the quilt for him, took two steps back and ignited the mugwort spice that smoked insects. A strong fragrance gradually lingered in the room, and those who were not used to it could easily choke.

She gently closed the door, went back to the outer room, and took out the rosewood box from the kang cabinet. Inside were ten hundred taels of silver bills and scattered silver ingots. As for the copper plates, they were not placed here. inside.

Instead of touching the silver ingots, she took ten silver notes, put the box away and handed it to Boss Ye.

At the same time, Mrs. Ye and others also handed over the bank notes to him, "Our money is about 2000 taels of silver, let's buy it first."

Food prices are extremely high now, and I don't know how much the 2000 taels of silver can buy.

When Ye Yu woke up early the next morning, there were only a few children left in the house. Ye Boss and Ye Lao Er had already driven the donkey cart to the county before dawn, and the rest were carrying water. Water the ground.

He yawned deeply, and for some reason recently, he was always sleepy, but it was okay, just bear with it and wait for the sleepiness to pass.

In the private school, Ye Tongsheng was teaching "The Analects of Confucius" today, and it was too hot to continue teaching after only half of the teaching. The whole room was like a steamer, and people were sweating all over after staying in it for a while.

Ye Tongsheng originally wanted to finish the last point before letting them leave, but what he didn't expect was that Ye Minghui suddenly became short of breath, sweat was all over his face, and he fell down on the table without breathing.

"Minghui!" Seeing this, Ye Tongsheng shouted loudly, not even caring about the book in his hand, he rushed over to support him.

Ye Yu was not in a hurry to care about Ye Minghui. Instead, he looked around. After seeing the water basin in the room, his eyes lit up. He hurried over to put the towel in his pocket to soak it, and then wiped the half-wrung towel Put it on his head.

Immediately afterwards, he unbuttoned Ye Minghui's button to let him breathe more smoothly.

"Get out of the way, don't squeeze together, and go and pour a glass of cold water."

After Ye Shuan heard his words, he stood up immediately, and trotted over to take the bamboo cup from his desk, "This is the white water that I just let cool, and I haven't had time to drink it yet."

Ye Yu took the cup and asked Ye Tongsheng to lift Ye Minghui's upper body slightly, point the cup to his mouth, and feed water into it little by little.

It wasn't until Ye Minghui finished feeding the water that he coughed twice, half-opened his eyes, and said weakly, "What's wrong with me?"

"You've suffered from heat stroke, what's wrong with you now?" Ye Yu put down his cup and asked.

"I feel dizzy and want to vomit." Ye Minghui covered his head as if he wanted to vomit but couldn't.

"Why don't you ask Dr. Hao to have a look?" Ye Yu knew that he was suffering from heat exhaustion, and he didn't know whether he should take medicine or not.

After Ye Minghui drank a glass of water and wiped his face with a wet towel, he was almost healed. He waved his hand and said, "No need to see a doctor, I'm already cured." He didn't want to drink bitter medicine juice.

But it’s not that he said he didn’t look for it, he really didn’t look for it. Ye Tongsheng was so frightened by this incident that he let the students go home, and he invited Dr. Hao to diagnose his youngest son’s pulse.

The two Doctors Hao have been going crazy recently. There are often villagers with heatstroke in the village. Ye Minghui is still the one with the mildest symptoms. After only two doses of medicine, he is alive and kicking again.

When he came to Ye Yu, he also described how he felt at that time.

"I just felt trembling, nauseated, and before I could stand up, I was dizzy and lost consciousness."

This is a typical symptom of heatstroke. Ye Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead, how could he feel that the outside temperature has risen a lot, it is estimated to be more than 40 degrees.

Thinking of this, he took out three wild pears from the basket hanging from the well and distributed them to them. After the wild pears were chilled in the well water, they were cool and refreshing.

After nibbling a wild pear, Ye Minghui said enviously: "The well in your house is really good. I will ask my parents to find someone to dig a well later."

"No one wants to do this job in such a hot day. Let's talk about it when the weather cools down." Ye Yu waved the cattail fan twice, but quickly put it down. The air coming out of the fan was also full of hot air. a bit.

"Oh, yes." Ye Minghui scratched his head in distress.

Recently, Ye Tongsheng didn't let the students go to the private school directly, so they should stay at home honestly.

Ye Minghui stayed at Ye Yu's house until the sun went down, and then he was ready to go home.

Seeing him walking out, Mrs. Ye said, "Don't go, stay for a meal."

"No, no, no, my mother told me early on that I'm going to cook delicious food tonight, and let me go back to eat." Ye Minghui quickly refused, how can I eat at someone else's house, isn't that ignorant.

It just so happened that after he left, Boss Ye hurried back. The brothers had been away for several days, and they didn't know if they had bought any food.

Boss Ye said excitedly after drinking the water: "Father and mother, we have bought a lot of food, and we will bring back the food in the evening."

Mrs. Ye nodded, and said: "You have to be careful, as the saying goes, don't leak money, be careful with your actions."

"Eh."

For this reason, their family didn't have a good dinner, they just ate some casually, and their thoughts were basically on the food they bought.

In the middle of the night, when there was no light in the village, the three brothers came back with a donkey cart. They did not take the right road, but the trail at the back of the village. This road was rarely used by people, so the road was full of weeds and vines. , it is difficult to walk.

After arriving home, Father Ye made sure that no one was outside and closed the door.

"How much food did you buy?" Mrs. Ye was a little dumbfounded, the donkey cart was covered with a layer of oilcloth, which protruded high.

Father Ye clapped his hands and said, "I don't know if the grain merchants have received the news that many of them are not selling. We can only buy so much, and most of them are extremely expensive white rice, sorghum wheat, corn noodles, etc. There's no one selling them at all."

Old man Ye took advantage of this time to untie the grain bag, stretched out his hand to grab a handful of white rice, and squeezed it, "It's new rice, it can be stored for years if you want to eat rice in the future, so you don't have to buy it."

After he finished speaking, he said with concern: "You didn't make other people doubt it, did you?"

Hoarding so much food in one breath, anyone with a brain should be suspicious.

"We bought them separately, no one should know." Father Ye took out the remaining bank notes from his pocket and handed them to his father, "There are three left."

Old man Ye confiscated it, "You keep it, and if you come across something rare later, just stock up on it." Such as brown sugar, red dates and coarse salt.

Father Ye didn't refuse, and put the banknote back into his pocket.

The white rice on the car was unloaded and neatly piled up in the cellar. The amount was surprising. Ye Yu estimated that they would not be short of rice in the next five years.

"Tomorrow, I will go to the village chief, and then each of you will bring your wives home to share the news about the stockpiling of grain." Old man Ye, who climbed up from the cellar, instructed his two sons.

After the two agreed, he said to Father Ye: "Go back and write a letter to General Chu and tell them about this."

Although General Chu should not need their reminders.

Father Ye replied, "Two days ago, they sent a letter asking us to stock up on more food."

It seems that the rich and powerful family in Chaoli has got the news.

"Alright." Old Man Ye waved his hand.

When the Ye family returned to the main room, Father Ye soaked his hands in the wooden basin and said while washing, "Now the gate of Heihe County is full of disaster victims. It's a mess. Every day, new disaster victims come here, and the county magistrate dare not open the city." The door told them to go in, so I had to donate porridge and rice to them and let them build a shed at the door. I thought that I would not go to the county town for the time being when I came back this time, so there are so many victims that there is no guarantee that anyone will be infected with the disease."

What's more, I really can't bear to look at the scene more, and I will feel depressed if I look at it too much.

"Since the victims are blocking the door, then the people in the county have nothing to say?" Mrs. Ye asked.

"How could it not be? Some people have already said that the county magistrate shouldn't give out porridge and rice, so they can't even go out."

There was not only one county in Heihe County on the way to escape, but they were the only ones that suffered the most disasters. Ye Yu guessed that most of them were because of giving out porridge twice a day.

Can't say who is right and who is wrong, it's just...

Can the grain in the granary in Heihe County really withstand such consumption?In case the food runs out and the victims of the disaster increase again, it is unpredictable whether there will be disasters without the government's allocation of food for disaster relief.

However, no matter how worried she was, Ye Yu couldn't change anything, she could only live in worry.

After the news of hoarding grain gradually spread from the village chief's house to the village, some believed it and others didn't believe it. Those who believed chose to go to the county town to buy grain, and those who didn't believe it were indifferent. They even laughed at those who bought grain, thinking that they were doing nothing. Useless work.

But no one has time to talk to these people, and if there is time to quarrel, it is better to buy more food.

The author says:

The name has been changed to "Defeating Natural Disasters with Farming".